The boy’s 5000 meter Varsity race was the first to be contested for the Rangers.  Several runners were competing in their first cross country meets ever, so adrenaline and nerves were at a peak before the gun sounded.  The pace started out moderate, as a large group of runners were in contention at the mile mark, which was crossed in 5:32 for the lead group.  Nash Koel and Kyle Alexander were in the chase pack, crossing one mile in about 6 minutes flat.  Koel and Alexander were both running well in their first cross country meet ever.  Thomas Nimick, running in his first race in two years, was 20 seconds back, working on running an even pace. After two miles, Coy and three other runners; one from Rapid City Stevens, another from Sturgis and a Class “A” runner from Todd County, broke away from the pack and started hammering the last mile.  Coy had a good finish and won the race with a 30 second improvement from his mark at the same race last season.  Koel and Alexander charged through the line next, each using their sprint speed in the final 100 meters to hold off opposing runners, finishing in 35^th and 42^nd place respectively.   Nimick had more left in the reserves than he had planned, but still finished in 52^nd place.  Koel, Alexander and Nimick all finished in the Top 20 among Class “A” Region 5A competitors, a task, if duplicated, will help earn the team a ticket to the state meet later in the season.  

In the Junior Varsity races, two other newcomers had their day in the sun.  Cassidy Hart had an outstanding day, finishing in 16^th place in the highly competitive Girl’s JV race that featured many Class “AA” girls.  Cassidy charged up the first hill in a large pack of 60+ girls and gradually made her way into the top 15.  Cassidy ran so well in her first race, and we are excited to see what she will do the rest of the season. This was also Cassidy’s first cross country race. 

Forrest King got a taste of cross country as well in the Junior Varsity boy’s race, which was the last race of the day.  Forrest ran hard, as he has all Fall and made three or four moves during the race to drop groups of runners.  Forrest was 69^th in a race that had almost 90 runners.

This Thursday, the Running Rangers will travel to Spearfish to compete in the Northern hills invite in Spearfish, which will be held at 3:00 p.m.